Saturday, November 5, 2016 at 3:44PM 
Did you know that Baz Luhrmann has an instagram account? He's currently using it to celebrate Romeo + Juliet's 20th anniversary with behind the scenes photos and anecdotes (Best LOL: he feels the need to explain what a collage and inspiration boards are for young fans -- ah the days before Photoshop and "mashups".)
This has been a Public Service Announcement.
Friday, November 4, 2016 at 12:29PM The weekend is beginning so have fun. Since today is BUtterfield 8's 56th anniversary, let Liz's "Gloria Wandrous" be your spirit guide. Whatever you're planning for tonight, wake up unashamed tomorrow!
More On this Day in Showbiz History goodies after the jump
Friday, October 28, 2016 at 8:00PM Boo! It's "Oscar Horrors". Each evening we look back on a horror-connected nomination until Halloween. Here's Tim Brayton on a '40s ghost story...
The Uninvited (1944) is a rarity among 1940s horror films twice over. For one thing, it's one of the vanishingly tiny number of genre films from that decade to receive Oscar attention, nabbing a Best Cinematography nomination – which is why we're here now, of course. For the other, it's one of the almost-as-tiny number of American horror films of its generation that actually commits to the paranormal. For years, stretching back into the 1930s, almost any time you saw a Hollywood film set in a haunted house, it was an easy bet that by the end of the last reel, you'd find out it was just an elaborate ruse by jewel thieves or some other damn thing. Not so for The Uninvited! Its ghost is real, and presents a genuine danger.
The film's readiness to tell an old-fashioned ghost story without apology or restraint is undoubtedly connected to the recognition given to Charles Lang's deeply shadow-soaked cinematography.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 7:30PM Boo! It's "Oscar Horrors". Each evening 'til Halloween we look back on a horror-connected Oscar nomination. Here's David on the cinematography of a camp classic...
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is hardly remembered as a horror classic; its camp reputation precedes it, as its recent appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars attests. (Only the finest for that crop of drag queens!) While the film is not what we might traditionally think of as a horror film, it has the same elements of lost souls, grotesque faces and physical cruelty that you might expect from any product of the genre. Just one year after Alfred Hitchcock changed the genre forever with Psycho, Baby Jane features a close-up of Joan Crawford’s face mushed against the floor - an eerie recall of Janet Leigh’s glassy-eyed demise.
Friday, October 21, 2016 at 2:15PM By Nathaniel R
Sheila Johnson welcomes you!
Salamander
Middleburg Film Festival, now in its fourth year and just an hour outside of Washington DC, is a rising festival to watch. Most of the festival's big events take place at the Salamander Resort and Spa which sits on 340 beautiful acres. The rooms are gorgeous -- I even have a nice little terrace to sit on while typing up these diaries for you. In short, this is a destination festival rather than a 'drop in for a film or two or two after work' type big city festival. Emma Stone and Damien Chazelle are coming into town for La La Land and other luminaries appear for their films, too.
The festival, which has an Oscar hopeful heavy lineup, was founded by the African-American billionaire Sheila Johnson (co-founder of BET network) who welcomed us to the opening night screening. The event was in the resort's huge ballroom and I was surprised to be very happy and pleased with the screen size and sound since non-traditional venues at regional festivals can sometimes present challenges.
The opening night film was the lost child / adoption drama Lion. True to early buzz we've heard the movie is quite wonderful...
